Misery Business
by JateSkateFate815
Summary: “All you have to do is make her fall in love with you and then leave her.” Nathan accepts Brooke's game, but when he starts to fall in love with Haley, it makes it that much harder to walk away. Naley with onesided Brathan and Brucas. AU.
1. Let's Play a Love Game

**Misery Business  
Chapter 1: _Let's Play a Love Game_  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill. I will be using song lyrics as chapter titles and this one just happens to be from "LoveGame" by Lady GaGa.  
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**This is AU season 1. And thank you to Keely Jade and othspnluver for helping me.  
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The beautiful Brooke Davis, head cheerleader and most popular girl in school, commanded the attention of everyone as she walked onto the courtyard which was just how she liked it: all eyes on her. She strutted down the sidewalk like a model on a runway flipping her long dark hair earning a few longing gazes from the boys. _They should, _she thought.

At a table across the quad, she spotted her "boyfriend" Nathan Scott, the captain of the varsity basketball team also known as the hottest boy on campus. So it only fit that the most popular, beautiful girl in school went with the most popular, handsome boy, right? Wrong. The problem was that Brooke and Nathan were not relationship types of people and they both knew that. "Friends with benefits" was all Nathan wanted, but Brooke was left wanting more. So she continued to tease and tease and tease hoping that Nathan would one day succumb to her wishes.

Ever since they had been children, Brooke had always had a crush on Nathan. Their coming from rich families would see each other very often. The first time Brooke saw Nathan when she was five years old and her crush had been planted from then. Childhood dreams often change, but this one didn't. They were friends, _in a weird sense of the word_, and she never told him how she felt. So she had to sit through years of watching Nathan flirt and hook up with other girls.

After years of her love being unrequited, you would think that she would have moved on, but instead of doing that, she settled for "friends with benefits." It hurt her at times, but she kept trying as if Nathan was the best she could do. Sure he was a jerk at times, but she always excused him for that because that was what she had to do for herself and what she thought she should do for him.

Brooke innocently sauntered over to Nathan's table where he was with all of his basketball friends. As soon as they saw Brooke standing in front of Nathan, they left, but not without sending a few lustful, parting glances Brooke's way. "Bye, boys," she said waving goodbye flirtatiously and batting her long eyelashes. She slid onto the bench in front of Nathan, and she folded her hands in front of her.

Nathan knew something was up, and she knew he knew. She had wanted him to know. So there she sat in front of him with a devious smile on her face, hands folded as she did when she was bored. Nathan looked up from his playbook and grinned back at Brooke. She was waiting for him to say something first. And this was how they played. "What do you want, Brooke?"

Now that she had his attention, the only boy's attention that _truly_ mattered to her, she decided to let him sit for a while. "Well…" she paused for a while longer, stopping to twirl her hair. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Nathan's amused look. She removed her hands from her hair and put them face down on the table. Brooke leaned in closer to Nathan and narrowed her haunting, hazel eyes. "You look bored, Nate. Wanna play a game?"

_Then _she smirked.

She loved their games, and for some reason, it didn't take much to get Nathan to play along.

"Brooke…" Nathan stared into her hazel eyes and at her devilish smirk; turning her down would be so hard. "_No._" He smirked as he watched her smile falter. "Why do you enjoy tormenting other people so much?" Games were _supposed to be _fun, but knowing Brooke and her previous games, they were more like torture for anyone of the parties, but Nathan knew how to dish it back.

"You mean 'why do _we _enjoy it'?" she asked, pointing between the two of them. "Well, I know why _I _enjoy it, but you'll have to ask yourself why you do." She leaned forward, batting her eyelashes and in a husky voice she whispered, "Come on, Nate. I can make it worth your while."

Now that was an offer that Nathan _could not _refuse. He hadn't had a girlfriend in about a week, which was a while for him and well, Brooke was Brooke. So he rolled his eyes and gave in. _As always. _"What's the game?" A reason why Nathan always gave in to Brooke's games was because sometimes he felt guilty for taking advantage of her, so that was how he'd try to make it up to her. Most people didn't think Nathan Scott had a heart, but really, he did. Twisted, perverted, but a heart nonetheless.

"Okay, it's simple really." Brooke looked around the quad carefully looking for someone that was Nathan's type, but was not at the same time. Nathan's type seemed to be hot, a cheerleader, and somewhat brain dead. So Brooke was going to look for an opposite. And she spotted her. Someone Nathan could never fall for.

She was sitting across the quad at a table, reading a book and sitting to a boy with blond hair who was on Nathan's basketball team who was _pretty hot. _ Nathan would complain about the blond-haired guy almost everyday about the boy being his brother, and he _was not _too happy about it. "Her," Brooke spoke, pointing to the girl with the dark hair and an _ugly_ poncho. "Tutor Girl."

Nathan raised himself up in his seat to see who Brooke was talking about. "Tutor Girl?" He didn't know the girl's name, but he thought she was pretty cute. She definitely did not seem like his type. She was reading, for one, and secondly she was friends with his bastard brother. But Nathan was never one to turn down a challenge from Brooke. Mostly because she would never let him live it down. "Okay, Brooke. What do I have to do?"

"Like I said before, it's relatively simple," she told him as she stole a couple of fries off of his tray. "All you have to do is make her fall in love with you and then leave her."

* * *

Lucas Scott, newbie to the Tree Hill Ravens varsity basketball team, and his best friend Haley "Tutor Girl" James were sitting at a table in one of the quieter areas of the quad, but close enough to hear everything that was going on. Lucas would occasionally peer up from the book he was reading only to catch Nathan staring at Haley.

"_Who_ are you staring at, Luke?" Haley asked as she placed a bookmark into her book. She followed her blond friend's gaze across the courtyard over to where a cheerleader and a basketball player sat. "Okay. You either want to burn a hole through Brooke Davis or Nathan, and since I'm assuming it's not a _hole _you want to burnwhen you look at Brooke Davis, I'm thinking that it's Nathan you want to kill. So what's going on?" She gave him a small smile and a nod.

He glanced over to Nathan who had turned his attention back to Brooke, but he still didn't like it anyway. "He's-He was staring at you." Being on the same team as Nathan, he knew the guy. Nathan was a jerk and a womanizer. And for the most part, he only cared about himself. Haley didn't need to be around a guy like that. There was also the fact that they were half brothers and daddy chose Nathan's mother which Nathan liked to rub in Lucas's face every time the team was around.

Haley looked up at Nathan's table, only to hear a protesting "don't look" from her blond best friend. Trying to lighten the darkening mood, Haley put her hand over her chest and her eyes widened, brightening her smile. "And you're jealous? Luke, that's sweet and all, but I think of you as a brother and incest is illegal."

His voice adopted a warning tone, "Haley…"

"_Relax, Lucas_," she hissed with a grin on her face. "I was playing. And I'm not interested in a ball banger anyway."

"_Basketball player_… You know for someone _so smart-"_

"Hey, _shut up. _I'm not a sporty girl, my friend, but _I am_ a big girl, Luke, I can-"

"- you can take care of yourself, I know."

For just over eight years, since they'd been eight, they were the best of friends. And ever since then, Lucas had had that 'big brother' protectiveness that could sometimes be great for Haley, while most of the time it was a pain. Although she had proven many times _that she could _take care of herself, Lucas was still there right beside her all the time. Haley was still grateful to have him as her best friend-slash-brother along with her huge family. Because of the brotherly/sisterly nature of their relationship, it made her sick to her stomach when others mistook them for being romantically involved. They only cared for each other the way a brother would care for a sister and the way a sister would her brother.

"_I can. _Don't worry about me. Worry about Nathan kicking your butt on the basketball court," she teased as she adjusted her poncho by pulling it over her shoulders. As she did so, Lucas's facial expression turned from a smile to a frown. "What? What did I say?"

"Nothing," he said, stopping to look at her poncho. _She's had better dressed days, _he thought to himself. "It's just that that thing is-"

"Okay, this 'thing' is something that I happen to love," she shook her head and picked up her empty water bottle, flinging the excess water at his face.

Lucas grinned while wiping the water from his face. "You may not be right about wearing that poncho, but you're right. If you love it, you should wear it. And it's not me that's gonna be getting my butt kicked, Hales." He picked up his trash and threw it from his seat into a trashcan about ten feet away. "It's _little brother _over there," he said with as much animosity in his voice as possible.

Haley just gave him a knowing look. Time and time again she had told him to just try to get along and be friends with the guy. They _were _on the same basketball team. If they couldn't get along, how well could the team possibly do? But she held her tongue to take her chances at sounding like a broken record _again. _"Sure, sure, Luke. Walk me to my locker."

After picking up their stuff and throwing away the remainder of their garbage, they got up and walked inside across the courtyard. As they walked passed the table employed by Nathan and Brooke, Nathan and Haley locked eyes with each other momentarily before hers darted away from his.

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After the elongated pause from Nathan the Desirable, Brooke spoke up out of frustration and impatience. "Well it should be fairly simple. After all, it's what you do. You're Nathan 'Mr. Love 'em and Leave 'em' Scott."

All Nathan could do was stare. It was not what one of their normal games usually consisted of. Usually they were as simple as 'whoever can sleep with whomever before the other gets to fill-in-the-blanks' to tormenting random people. But this time, Brooke had gone all out. When she said she was bored, she was not kidding. Nathan wondered how long it took Brooke to come up with that one for him.

There were only two things that Nathan was worried about though. _How _would he get a girl to fall in _love _with _him _and what if it didn't work? He didn't necessarily feel guilty about the whole thing. Assuming worry number one did not work, the plan would backfire. "You're dangerous when you're bored, Brooke Davis."

"I know. Being dangerous is one of my many talents, Nathan Scott," she whispered softly. _He still didn't tell me if he's going to do this. _"Well?"

"Sure, I'll do it," was his less than eager response. "How would I get her to fall in love with me?"

_You're asking the right person, _Brooke thought. _Too bad I don't have an answer. _"I don't know. You'll just have to figure that one out on your own, Nate."

"And what do you do while I do all this?" The bell ring signifying that lunch was over rang before her answer could be delivered and they both got up from their lunch table and hurried inside.

"I just get to sit back, watch the show, and enjoy _those_ fireworks. And trust me," she smirked, "_there will be fireworks."_

Nathan ignored her little innuendo as they walked down the hallway to their next class. All this talk of planning their game was making him tired - and he had basketball practice after school. "What do you think Mr. Kent is gonna assign us for the history project?" Talking about school seemed so foreign to him. All he cared about mainly were girls and basketball.

_School? He wants to talk about school? _"Who _ever _knows with that guy? It won't be easy, I can tell you that much." Nathan silently agreed as they walked down the hallway from his locker to hers. "Hey, if we get to choose partners, want to be mine?"

Nathan laughed to himself and looked down at the ground, before looking back at Brooke who had just closed her locker. "No offense, Brooke, but if I want an 'A', I'll need someone capable of getting an 'A'. I'm failing as it is and I don't want to get kicked off of the team."

"_Right_." This was one of the only times when she'd ever looked at the ground when she walked. Oh, and that definitely cut through her like a knife. Sure she didn't have the most stellar grade point average, but she wasn't completely stupid. She _did_ need a brain to start her own fashion line, _thank you very much, Nathan Scott_.

"Brooke, I'm sor- There's Tim," Nathan pointed out, as he backed away from Brooke who was obviously pretty offended. "I'll see you in class?" Brooke only nodded and walked off. Nathan figured that she went to go find Peyton or Bevin or someone to whine about him to. After Brooke turned down the other hallway, he met up with Tim Smith and they walked the long way to class.

The bell rang about five seconds before they walked in and Brooke was already sitting in her seat which was behind fellow cheerleader Bevin Mirskey and next to Peyton Sawyer. Nathan took his seat to the right of Bevin and Tim sat down next to him.

On the other side of the classroom sat Haley James and Lucas Scott who were talking about the project. "I'm figuring since we chose our partners last time, and that worked out oh so well, he's choosing them for us," Haley whispered leaning in. Mr. Kent was always late to come to class when they had it after lunch and being in the back of the room near the door, she pretty much had to keep looking over her shoulder to see if he entered.

"Who would you want as a partner?" Lucas asked her, before she got the chance to ask him.

"Hmm," she pretended to ponder the question for a moment. "_Not you._ And that was a joke of course. Uh, you, Mouth, or Skills. And same for you. Me, Mouth, or Skills."

"You know me so well."

"So since those are the people we _do _want, they won't end up being our partners." Haley turned around to see Mr. Kent walk through the door at that moment.

"Sorry, I'm late class," he articulated as the noise level in the class died down to a deafening silence. Everyone in the room wanted to know one thing. Partners. And that he knew. Mr. Kent smiled. "Let's get started."

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**If you think this is worth continuing then please review! Once again, this is Naley, Brucas, and onesided Brathan.**


	2. The Business of Misery

**Misery Business  
Chapter 2: _The Business of Misery_**

**The title of this chapter is from the song "Misery Business" by Paramore, which I do not own.  
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, alerted, and favorited this fic so far! Thanks so much, they really meant a lot! And I loved getting the reviews!**

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Mr. Kent smiled to himself and ruffled his dark brown hair, watching the class that was anxiously waiting for him to open his mouth. To him, there was something sort of hilarious about making them wait. Some could even call it a punishment for all of the times that his _always obedient _class would not shut up. Keeping in suspense was worth it as long as he had the momentary silence.

He was able to see the gestures students made to their friends like shooting hoping glances which was wishful thinking. Finally he decided that it was time to let everyone know who their partners were. "Alright, class," he started. "Because letting you choose your partners worked out _so well _last time, I get to choose the partners for this project."

Mr. Kent saw who worked well together, and those concluded with an 'A': Marvin and Antwon, Haley and Lucas. And he also noticed those who _didn't _work well together. The obvious choice: Nathan and Tim. There was _no way _that he would _ever _let Nathan and Tim partner up again. That presentation was so much of a nightmare, he had no choice but to give them an 'F'… well, a 'D minus' for effort, which there was hardly any of. Their project was supposed to be on France, so instead of actually doing research, they cut out a bunch of pictures of Playboy Bunnies dressed in French maid outfits and stuck them on a poster board. What a great connection that was.

Of course, if part two of the pair, didn't follow through, the other couldn't be liable for that which is why there were individual grades, group grades, and partner evaluations. "First up, we will have Marvin and Antwon."

Haley glanced over at her friends' smiling faces and rolled her eyes. Leaning over to Lucas, she whispered, "that is _not _fair." Of _course _Mouth and Skills would be paired together for the project. That only meant they wouldn't be so lucky.

Lucas had to agree with Haley on that one. No one else would be paired with a friend, probably. As long as he didn't get stuck with his lovely younger brother… or Tim he'd be fine. At the moment, he couldn't decide who he'd rather be stuck with out of the two. He made himself sure that he wouldn't be paired with at least Nathan – _until _Mr. Kent opened his mouth.

"Let's see, who's next? How about Nathan and Lucas?" A collective gasp filled the classroom. Nathan immediately put his defenses up as did Lucas who was glaring at the back of Nathan's head. "Wow. I was just kidding boys. Apparently putting you two as partners would result in a catastrophic event." He looked around the classrooms and received 'what would you know about that' looks. "What? Teachers gossip too."

Mr. Kent had never had an experience with Nathan and Lucas fighting, arguing, or anything of the sort in his class before, but he just tested the waters with that one. He was _sure _that the teachers had been exaggerating just a little bit, but boy was he wrong. Now he'd never doubt what the other teachers had to share about the infamous Scott brothers.

After the admittance of his joke, shaky laughter filled the classroom before turning into sincerity at the fact that their teacher had _actually _made a joke and also because a teacher had the slightest idea what was going on at their school. Nathan instantly seemed to relax in his seat. God, he wouldn't be able to take being partners with Lucas at all. It was bad enough already. First they shared a father, a school, and a basketball team. Enough was enough. Enough to make him laugh along with everyone else.

His eyes scanned the room and for a brief moment, his eyes interlocked with Brooke's, and he smiled at her, an apology for the comment he made before, to which she accepted with a nod. He always wondered why it was that with just one look, he could get her to forgive him. Sometimes he didn't know if he was actually apologizing because he was sorry or because he knew she would forgive him. But he couldn't lose her as a friend, after being _friends _for twelve years. And that he wouldn't admit to anyone.

"Moving on," their teacher announced, scratching his brow awkwardly. He thought it might at least be a semi-smart idea to avoid the topics of Lucas and Nathan Scott for a moment. "Next we have Tim and Bevin."

They looked over at each other and nodded. Tim also mumbled something that he wasn't able to make out, but that probably was for the best. "Peyton and Theresa…" Out of the remaining classmates, some were paired with friends and acquaintances while others weren't. As Mr. Kent started to come down to the home stretch, only a couple people were left. Four to be exact. "And the last two duos are Brooke and Lucas, and Nathan and Haley."

Haley didn't dare take a look over at Lucas. She _knew _how pissed he probably was, and plus she could feel his eyes on her from the moment Lucas was announced to be partners with Brooke.

"Now, this project will be about the history of each other. Past, present, and future. This can include family trees if you would like. The more creative you get, the better your grade will be. It'll be due a week from Monday. And for those of you who already know each other, just think of it as an opportunity to get to know each other better."

A student's voice piped up from the back of the room. "But what does this really have to do with our history class?"

"Would you rather have a project on the American Revolution?" When no one answered, he chuckled. "I didn't think so. Now, disperse and get to know each other a little bit. You may have the rest of the period to do so. A whopping fifteen minutes."

Everyone seemed to get up at once, but not really heading in the direction of his or her partner. On the L. Scott and James side of the room, Lucas was _pretty livid. _Haley tried to calm him down by saying _anything _to try and convince him that Nathan wasn't going to try to screw with her. Nothing had even happened yet, and yet Lucas still went into overprotective mode. "Haley, he did this on purpose," Lucas whispered vehemently to her. One hand was curled into a fist and the other was on the back of his neck. "He _knows _me and Nathan hate each other, and what does he do? He puts my best friend with that jerk!"

"Nathan and I," Haley corrected with a smile trying to get Lucas to smile, but her attempt, was not successful. "Luke, this is ridiculous!" Haley, mostly the more realistic of the tow, refused to see things Lucas's way. Why would a teacher screw the mind of a student for his own personal enjoyment? And the whole Nathan thing… sure he was a jerk, but that was only one person's opinion of him. But that didn't mean he'd be totally excused for what he's done to Lucas in her book. Even if she was a believer in second impressions and second chances.

"You're acting like he's out to get me or something." Obviously their conversation earlier at lunch did not mean much to him then. "Lucas, I can take care of myself. I'm a big kid now," she whispered as she picked up Lucas's backpack and handed it to him.

Lucas squinted his eyes before breaking into a grin. "You just quoted a Huggies commercial, Haley."

"Shut up."

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"_Wow," _Brooke mumbled as she looked Nathan dead in the eyes. _How great _it was for Nathan that he got _Haley _as his partner. When realizing she probably looked as jealous as she really was, she threw on her daily façade that only cracked when it came to him, and smirked. "So you got Tutor Girl. Aren't you lucky?"

A hypothetical question of course, but Nathan wasn't going to pass up a chance to throw something back. "And you got the bastard. Aren't you lucky?"

"But getting Poncho Girl as your partner makes your job a whole lot easier."

"I thought your nickname for her is Tutor Girl."

Brooke shook her head, flinging her hair. "Tutor Girl, Poncho Girl. Same ugly-ass poncho." She narrowed her eyes before smiling a genuine smile. The first one of the day that wasn't actually a smirk. And from there, it went right back to normal with them. It was as if he had never even made that comment in the first place. Sure she still remembered it, and it still stung, but she learned to forgive him for that long ago. Nathan would always be Nathan. "Have fun, Nate," she whispered with a wicked smile.

"And you have fun with my brother."

Being as gentlemanly as he _always was, _instead of her coming over to him, Nathan strolled over to Haley's desk for the little meet and greet. Brooke _was _right. For no matter how often that may be, she was right this time. This _would_ make his 'job' easier. He could lay on the charm during the project, have her eating out of his hand, and then drop her like a sick person drops a used tissue. He did it all the time anyways. What was the difference this time?

When he finally reached Haley's desk, Lucas was just leaving. They shared their hourly 'I hate yous', then Lucas spoke to Haley, not even bothering to whisper. "Be careful, Hales," while he stared hardly at Nathan. The younger of the two just scoffed smugly and slid into the seat next to Haley, turning it towards her.

Before, he didn't completely get Brooke's comment about the poncho, but now he was starting to. But… it wasn't _that _bad, but he wasn't Brooke so what did he know? It was still ugly, though. Nathan leaned in closer to Haley, who was just staring at him, waiting for him to say something. "Nice poncho."

Haley looked to the left of her, and a disbelieving smile crossed her face. "_What?" _

"What? I like your poncho. It's… nice."

Haley smiled to herself. She couldn't exactly tell if he was being sarcastic or if he really meant it, and it wasn't like she was getting compliments all around school. "Uh-huh. Now what do you really think of it?" She asked with narrowed eyes, but yet a warm smile.

"Honestly," he ran his hands through his hair while grimacing. "It's hideous." When Haley started to laugh, he knew she wasn't offended in the least bit. It was kind of cool to him, how he just insulted something she obviously liked and she laughed, not caring what he thought. It made him laugh along with her.

As they shared a laugh, Haley actually took the time to notice how his dark hair complimented his blue eyes, making them stand out. Or how his smile seemed to make his eyes even brighter than they were, which made him even more attractive to her… but she wouldn't allow herself to think that. She couldn't. Because of Lucas. "

So, Nathan, what do you know about me?" She watched the raven-haired boy shift around in his seat and she could practically hear the answer on his lips. _Not much. _She didn't think that he made It his duty to know about people he didn't really associate with. And she was thinking that she was right by how long he was taking.

He recalled lunch with Brooke, when she called her 'Tutor Girl'. So _obviously, _the girl was a tutor. "Uh, I know that you are a tutor… and your best friend is _Lucas." _

The hiss as he said Lucas's name did not go unnoticed and at that, Haley had to roll her eyes, but she had to give him credit. He knew more about her than she thought he would, and it was only two things. "what is _the deal _with you two anyway? You're brothers. So what?"

Apparently this was a topic that he didn't like to touch upon very often, so he wanted to end it as quickly as possible. And plus, he figured that she already had one side of the story. "You know, Haley. You already know the story. What do you know about me?"

_Ah, he finally asked, _Haley thought. "I know that you're a jackass… among other things."

Nathan grinned. "You've got me pegged, Hales," he said sarcastically.

"You know what I know. It's the same thing everyone else knows. You're my best friend's brother and the resident basketball star."

"Well… then I guess we're going to have to get to know each other a little bit better, huh?"

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Lucas Scott took a seat in front of the brunette haired queen of Tree Hill High and spun it in her direction. Despite what he'd heard about her, he never really had an interaction with her before, so who was he to judge based on things that he'd heard? Brooke's hazel eyes were turned towards Nathan and Haley, and from what Lucas could tell, she was jealous. She had that envious look in her eyes, mixed with sadness.

Her trance was broken when she heard the bottom of the desk squeak when Lucas turned. She looked in front of her at the blond-haired new Raven, and her mouth formed into a grin, reaching her eyes, making her dimples pop. How was she so lucky?

Lucas chuckled in return. "Hi, Brooke."

"Hello there, Lucas Scott. I'm sorry I haven't made my way over to meeting you yet. I make it my personal business to know everyone on the basketball team. I've just been a little preoccupied." He surely did not go unseen by her watchful eyes. She noticed him before, and how could she not? His blond hair and blue eyes made him an immediate attention catcher. Sexy.

Lucas nodded. "Well, we're meeting now. All in due time, I guess." Lucas quickly looked over at Haley who at the moment was laughing along with Nathan at something he had said.

"Is Haley your girlfriend?"

"What? No. Why does everyone think that?"

Brooke giggled softly. "Because you guys are _always _together."

"Well, are you and Nathan together?"

Brooke stared at him for a little bit. He was right. They did spend a lot of time together. Way more time than she spent with Peyton or Bevin or Theresa. But that was what she wanted people to think. Wasn't it? "Touché. When do you want to get together and work on this?"

The project how ever short it may or may not end up being was due in eight school days which meant that they had two weekends to work on it. But who knew how long it would take to get it done? "Tomorrow afternoon at the Rivercourt?"

"That's cool. See you then, _Number 3_," Brooke winked as she got up from her class and walked over to sit with Peyton and Theresa.

He smiled with a light in his eyes and a beam on his face. Something about that girl put a smile on Lucas Scott's face.

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Their conversation had ceased and Haley moved on to doing homework. Her head was titled down towards the notebook on her desk as she concentrated on writing in her notebook. Every so often, she could feel Nathan's eyes on her. Normally, that probably wouldn't bother her, but she was trying to finish her homework. She looked up at him and caught his eye. "Will you stop staring at me?"

Nathan only leaned onto the back of his chair, putting both hands on the table. "You're staring at me too."

"Because _you _were staring at _me_ first_." _

He shrugged, with a smile on his face. "I can't help it."

"That's not going to help you get in my pants."

"Who said I want to get in your pants? Wishful thinking?" Haley blushed a light shade of pink, and she looked away from Nathan. Her chance to answer that question was interrupted by the bell ringing. "So do you want to work on the project tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that'd be good."

"Great. I'll pick you up at your house and we'll go to my parents' beach house after that." Nathan waved goodbye, turned around, and walked away from her. While he was walking away, Haley realized something. _How does he know where I live? _

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**Please review and tell me what you thought! And the more reviews I get, the faster I'll update! Thanks! **  
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	3. Kiss Me Through the Phone

**Misery Business  
Chapter 3: **_**Kiss Me Through the Phone  
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**The title of this chapter comes from the song _"_Kiss Me _Thru _the Phone" by Soulja Boy...  
To those who reviewed, alerted, and favorited the last chapter, thank you SO much! And I'm sorry this took two weeks _again, _but it took forever to write. This one is shorter than the first two, and the next one will probably be up sooner since I've already started it.**_**  
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After ending the class with Lucas staring into her back while she let Nathan lead her out of the room, she was more than happy to not have any classes with her best friend for the rest of the school day.

Talking with Nathan, albeit for less than fifteen minutes, she didn't understand how Lucas couldn't be open to only even hearing about Nathan's other side. Admittedly the Jekyll and Hyde routine would get a little old the more time she spent with him.

_The more time she spent with him. _

She didn't like how that sounded, but at the same time, she kinda did. To herself, she sounded like a love-struck Ravens basketball groupie who wanted to take a ride with the best basketball player in school, even though she knew it wasn't like that at all. It was just that first impressions were interesting. Her first impression of Nathan being a Class-A jerk was beginning to wear off.

So far, Haley's 'avoiding Lucas' routine has involved Skills giving her heads ups when Lucas was headed their way, and spending minimal time in the hallways. The end of the day came along and Mouth offered to drive her home much to her satisfaction.

When she arrived at home, she had been in the house for no more than two minutes when she received a phone call from Lucas. Haley wasn't about to ignore his call; he _knew _she was home, so she just decided to answer it. "Hello?" she picked up the cordless phone from the kitchen, strolled into her room, and plopped herself down on her bed.

She spoke in a nonchalant manner, as if history class hadn't even happened. That was how she needed it to be for the moment, though it wouldn't stay that way for long.

"Haley," Lucas uttered into the phone on his end. Haley was still using her avoidance techniques which she had been using for most of the day already. It wasn't just an 'accident' that they hadn't run into each other for the rest of the school day. He was just waiting around in the library until basketball practice started and he decided he'd give his friend a call.

"How was working with Brooke?" Haley asked, jumping ahead of Lucas before he went on his asking about Nathan frenzy. Prolonging wasn't the best option, but it would get Lucas's mind off of it for a couple seconds at best.

"It was fine," he answered. "I think we'll have fun." So far, Brooke Davis seemed like a fun person to be around. Well, considering his ceaseless smiling during their session.

"That's good, Luke. I already know what you're going to ask, so I'll just answer the question for you. The Nathan I've heard about seemed to be incognito today. He's nice."

"Haley, I-"

"Yes, I know that _just because _he's 'acting' nice doesn't mean he is, Luke, but all I'm saying is that you should give him a chance. It's the same thing as if you've screwed up. You'd want someone to give you a second chance, wouldn't you?" Sure she was being preachy, but she wasn't about to keep what was on her mind inside. And besides, being as contumacious as he was, Lucas probably wouldn't listen to her anyhow.

When he didn't respond, she resorted to threatening him tauntingly. "And if you tell me to 'be careful' one more time, I swear-"

"I'm listening, Hales," he spoke with amusement in his voice. "He's screwing with me by trying to get close to my best friend, and I can't accept that."

Haley let out a _long, _frustrated, completely aggravated sigh. _No, Lucas, you weren't listening. _"So he can't _be nice _to me because he wants to be?It wouldn't make sense if it didn't involve you, right?"

"Haley, _you know _I didn't mean it like that…"

She heard a beeping sound on her end: call waiting. At this point, she didn't care who it was, she just wanted to put an end to this topic of conversation. "Hang on, I've got a call on the other line." Haley happily clicked over to the awaiting caller. "Hello?"

Nathan's voice rang through the earpiece. "Hey, Haley," he said.

What a surprise that was. He was the last person that she expected a call from. "Hi, Nathan. So how did you get my address, and now phone number?" That question had been bugging her since the end of history with Mr. Kent, and now she could finally receive her answer.

He only laughed. "I'll never tell."

"Oh, you better," she smirked to herself as she laid back into her bed. "Unless you want to go from a Class-A semi jerk to a Class-A creeper in my book."

"As much as I'd love to be known as a creeper, I'll tell you. When school got out, I went down to the office and told the secretary that Haley James left her notebook with me last period and I needed her address so I could give it to her. She was just nice enough to throw in your phone number. I didn't know your address when I told you I'd pick you up, so you can relax. So… am I still a creeper?"

Haley shook her head and smiled to herself. "Nah, but I'm just worried about the secretary giving out my address and phone number like that."

Nathan chuckled into the phone. "Yeah."

A couple moments passed before Haley spoke again. "You called because…?"

"I have to have a reason to call you? I called because I wanted to talk to you." Maybe he was laying on the charm a little thick, but he didn't just call randomly. He actually did want to talk to her.

"Oh, really?"

"Yes. _Really." _

Haley smiled and crossed over her stomach. Nathan was quite the charmer, she thought. He _was nice _and that confirmed it. She felt an unexpected leap in her stomach when he spoke to her. Butterflies, which she started to curse mentally, but then she stopped. She shouldn't feel bad for liking someone Lucas hates. She can't control who she likes. That thought made her remember that Lucas was still on the other line. "I've got to go," she whispered before projecting her voice louder. "I left Lucas on the other line. I'll see you tomorrow, Nathan."

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow. And tell big brother that I send him love," he muttered sarcastically before hanging up the phone.

_I can tell that was sincere, _Haley mused to herself. She was definitely going to do something to fix that little problem, as difficult as it was going to be. "Sorry, Luke," she said once she was on the other line. She couldn't have been gone from the line for more than five or six minutes, and she didn't want him on her case about Nathan again, so she decided to lie. "It was one of my mom's friends. She's a talker, so it was hard to get her to shut up."

Lucas didn't ask any questions; he seemed to believe her which was good. He laughed quietly before saying, "I've gotta get ready for practice. I'll talk to you later, Hales."

"Bye, Luke." Haley dropped the cordless phone onto her bed. She hated lying to him like that, but it was something that she had to do.

* * *

In the locker room after practice, Tim walked up to Nathan and sat down next to him on the bench. "Me and Bevin are gonna go get something to eat. Wanna come?"

Nathan shook his head as he stuffed his high tops into his athletic bag. "Cant. I'm gonna go to Brooke's house." He zipped the bag, slung it over his shoulder, and walked out with Tim.

"Oh, word? Practice is over and you're still gonna score?"

Nathan sighed in annoyance and walked further ahead of him. "Bye, Tim."

Nathan hopped into his car to drive over to Brooke's house. It was another successful practice which meant he showed off and further demonstrated that he was, in fact, the hotshot that he is. If you're good at something…

Brooke usually left a key on the ledge above the door while her parents were gone. It was a routine how he would look around the neighborhood, up and down the street to make sure no one was watching. Brooke wouldn't want any unexpected visitors during the night, after all.

Plus, he _did _make a mistake of picking up the key one time when Tim came along once. That hiding spot was underneath the 'welcome mat'. Then Brooke had to go through the trouble of changing the locks and changing the hiding space of the new key.

The new space was funny to Nathan. Brooke had picked a space that she knew Tim couldn't reach. Nathan walked right into the house after unlocking the front door. He headed straight up the stairs to Brooke's room, not going for any reason other than to talk. Brooke was sitting on her bed talking to someone on the phone, dressed in her cheerleading uniform.

When she saw Nathan standing in her doorway, her eyes lit up in surprise and she proceeded to dismiss the person on the phone. "I gotta go, Peyton, see you tomorrow." She previously had been sprawled across her bed, so she backed herself up against her pillows and sat cross legged to give Nathan space to sit down.

"_Nathan. _What can _I _do for you?"

It was always hard _not _to notice the suggestive tone in Brooke's voice. By now, he knew her well enough to know when she was playing around, though at times it was hard to tell. And this was one of them. He just ignored her tone and moved in closer to her. "How was Lucas?"

He was asking out of pure curiosity, just wanting to know what Brooke thought of the guy. But then when did Brooke think badly of any guy? He wasn't exactly looking for a motive to punch Lucas's lights out _today, _but if the reason presented itself, then so be it.

Brooke leaned deeper back into her pillow and grinned at Nathan impishly. Which was an opposite reaction of what Nathan had intended. He had _expected _her to just answer the question, but things were never that simple with Brooke. She was entertaining; he had to give her that.

In Brooke's mind, she thought that Nathan was showing that he actually cared about her. She knew he did, but it was something that was seldom exhibited. "why, what have you heard?"

"Nothing, I just-"

Brooke cut him off as things weren't working in the way that she wanted them to. "He's sweet," was her simple answer. The other answer she'd given Peyton had ben 'he's sweet and nothing like Nathan.' "What about you and Tutor Girl?"

Nathan knew what she was _really _asking him. She was inquiring about how the 'I love you' game was going and about whether or not she seemed to be responding appropriately to him or not. So far he thought it was going along great. With the talk at school, and the impromptu phone call, things were looking rather nice. And plus, Haley wasn't the stiff that he had imagined her to be. She was actually pretty cool. Minus the poncho. "Fine, it's going good. But how would I get her to fall in love with me?"

The light in Brooke's eyes seemed to vanish when the question was put forth. _You're asking the right person_, she thought. _Too bad I don't have an answer. _"Don't ask me, just do whatever if takes. If it happens, it happens," she told him as she wiggled her eyebrows. She turned back up towards him and smiled. "I'm having a party here after the game in two weeks. Tell _no one."_

Nathan smiled a smile that reached up to his eyes, and he shook his head looking into Brooke's hazel orbs. "So tell everyone?"

She smirked. "_Exactly_."

* * *

In the morning around ten o'clock, Nathan pulled up in front of Haley's house, sitting outside. The chivalrous thing to do _would _be to go and ring the doorbell, which he got out and did do. He stood on Haley's porch in the crisp, cool morning air in his varsity basketball jacket.

Haley didn't come to the door on the first buzz of the doorbell and as soon as he pushed the button a second time, he could hear Haley's footsteps hit against the stairs from inside. Finally, she opened the door and stepped outside. Haley wore a red v-neck t-shirt inside a blue jean jacket and just a pair of blue jeans.

"No poncho today?" Nathan commented more than asked, as they walked down the steps of the porch to his truck.

"_Ha ha. _Just for that I'm going to wear it again on Monday."

"Oh, please don't," he mock pleaded as he walked her over to the passenger's side of the truck. He opened the door for her and she slid inside.

Haley grinned up at him. Nathan still held the door open, with a smirk on his face, still waiting for an answer. "_Fine_, since you said please. And good morning to you too."

"Good morning, Haley." He closed the door, and walked back over to his side and got in. "Let's get started on this project," he said as he started up the car.

* * *

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